As an artist Brooklyn’s Joseph Arthur can be called a lot of things. Gentle. Yearning. Prolific. Atmospheric. Haunting. Spiritual. Often shirtless.



As a promoter Joseph Arthur can only be classified in one way: genius.



Later this year Arthur will release his latest full length CD, Temporary People. Instead of just being happy with that fact, however, Arthur is pushing the envelope. In what can only be described as a promotional blitz of unheard of proportion, Arthur has released four (count them, four!) EPs this summer to get fans and music critics ready. The EPs have all been made as Arthur makes Temporary People. Now, instead of the material that doesn’t make the new full length finding its way to the cutting room floor, it finds its way to fans through the release of six songs EPs that also serve as strategically dispersed hype for Arthur’s new full length, due out in September.



It’s a move that’s nothing short of brilliant.



Arthur released the last of those four EPs, Foreign Girls, in July. It came only a month after the release of Vagabond Skies – the third EP of the set. Both discs sat atop my promotional pile this week, and I took a skinny dip into each to see what Arthur’s got cooking.



Vagabond Skies is the slower of the two, though Arthur’s music never reaches a break neck pace. The disc opens with the wind swept and wide open “Slow Me Down,” carried by the measured strum of an acoustic and the poignant line “Don’t know where I’m going/Don’t know what I’m trying to find.” It’s a tone and vibe that sets the scene for things to come, and has all the elements fans of Arthur have come to love – unassuming and dry, yet somehow soul grabbing.



In contrast, Foreign Girls opens with its namesake, and it’s a track that – while similarly paced with “Slow Me Down” – depends much more on its irony than poignancy. Indeed, “everyone loves foreign girls,” as Arthur points out like a sleepy eyed wise-man in a smoky backroom bar. Unlike Vagabond Skies, “Foreign Girls” is just one of many flavors on the final EP of the set – perhaps providing the clearest picture of the full length to come.



Shifting gears, the second track on Foreign Girls, “Candy and Cars,” dabbles in electro-tinkering and male female melodies, and achieves an almost overpowering sense of uplift that – if not for the incongruity of the lyrics – might be too much. As it stands, though, a balance between the two – cynicism and sincerity - “Candy and Cars” may be one of the most interesting tracks Foreign Girls has to offer.



As Vagabond Skies progresses, it becomes clear its songs are all of the same family. “Pretty Good Company,” “She Paints Me Gold,” and “Second Sight” – the meat of the EP, could easily be played back to back in concert. All have a human scent and electronic pulse – one that grows in intensity until a crescendo in “Second Sight.” Vagabond Skies sounds as though it could have been laid down in one sitting – a cohesive quality that instead of boring the listener acts to intrigue.



Foreign Girls, on the other hand, is a true mixture of Arthur’s tricks. Equal footing is given to bleeps and bloops as the dusty guitar. Speckles of Americana and country two steps with gritty, morning after club sex aesthetics. Perhaps the finest example of this quintessential Arthur juxtaposition is “The Killer,” in which Arthur implores the listener “I’ve got nothing to justify/ a wing and a prayer. If you saw me then testify/say I was there.”



I can’t vouch for Arthur in a court of law, but I can say his summer long promotional blitz of EPs needs no justification. It was a true move of brilliance, and however Temporary People turns out I’ll be happy to have both Vagabond Skies and Foreign Girls in my collection.



What Arthur’s been up to, as he shows us with both these discs, is pretty damn good.

LINK: Joseph Arthur's Web site